By Dr CHARLES MWAPE -
CREATION of employment for Zambians is on the top agenda of the Patriotic Front (PF) Government by 2016, that is, before the next presidential and general elections and this includes persons with disabilities. However, most of them are not educated to join the competition in the job market.
We have seen a number of them selling in our streets and corridors for them to support their families and educate children just like any other parent in our communities. Unfortunately, our laws in Zambia do not allow street vending and those found breaking the law are dealt with using the fast track courts.
Among the victims of this law are persons with disabilities, but on the other hand Zambia is among other countries promoting creation of society for ALL when the existing laws do not know that the capacity of persons with disabilities is limited, hence they sell and survive in the streets of this great nation.
We all know that the Zambian Government has signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) but it is not fully operationalised to benefit persons with disabilities and thus Government has to develop specific policies and directives related to disabled in business through an inclusive approach.
The new policies should encourage the private sector to take a proactive position in ensuring their policies take care of an inclusive policy and allow persons with disabilities do business within their business premises as part of cooperate social responsibilities.
The objective of allowing persons with disabilities to trade freely is aimed at providing sustainable rehabilitation, which is a critical goal for inclusive society for ALL and provides the private sector with the information and tools needed to understand inclusive development and take concrete steps in making Zambia a more inclusive country or go toward a more inclusive society for ALL.
There is urgent need for Government and private sector to review the Investment Act and other laws related to business and include the fact that every business man or woman must employ a person with disability or empower them with seed capital as part of the requirements to set up business in Zambia.
The Government can do this by reviewing the Disability Act and other disability policies and align them with the Labour and Industry Act. I have seen the spirit from persons with disabilities I have interacted with to do business within the law and become successful at one point in life.
Many friends I have talked to told me that they had seen political will from this Government and have been hopeful that more can be done so that society for all, which will provide an opportunity for persons with disabilities to do business without being chased by a combined team of council and State police can be achieved.
They also informed me that at times they were arrested and detained for days and it was worse for those using wheelchairs because they were detained without the wheelchairs within the police cells, and it was hell there.
As we know that one billion people, or 15 per cent of the world’s population, experience some form of disability. One-fifth of the estimated global total, or between 110 million and 190 million people, encounter significant disabilities.
Persons with disabilities on average as a group experience worse socio-economic outcomes than persons without disabilities, such as less education, worse health outcomes, less employment and higher poverty rates. These include persons with disabilities in Zambia.
Zambia’s economic, legislative, physical, and social environment have created or maintain barriers for persons with disabilities to participate equally in economic, civic, and social life and show the people that disability is not a barrier in itself but lack of laws to create an enabling environment to do business.
The laws must address inadequate access to education and vocational training, unsafe working conditions for persons with disabilities, polluted business environment, and lack of access to business loans from both the Government and private sectors and through lack of employment coupled with lower wages, as well as an increased cost of living for persons with a disability.
It is a fact that disability and poverty are complex, dynamic and intricately linked phenomena which can only be properly addressed by integrating persons with disabilities into mainstream society and make them feel that they are key in addressing issues affecting them through an inclusive approach focusing on the creation of a desired society.
Zambia must have successful disabled business executives if we take advantage of this political will and bring all stakeholders on board. As a disability rights activist myself, I know the heart of Zambians, they love to care and support others because this is our identity as Zambians.
This can only happen if we speak with a strong and united voice because WE ARE ALL DISABLED in one way or the other as Ms Christine Chama rightly pointed out in last week’s story. It will be wrong to depend so much on political will but let’s advocate for laws and policies which are disability-friendly.
For me this is very true, that we are all disabled t and it’s only right that we champion for laws and policies now so that when that time comes, we can see the value and benefit of such laws. When the law is reviewed and implemented, we shall see reduction in the number of persons with disabilities begging in our streets and see order in doing business.
There are many elements that Zambia needs to consider in pursuing society for ALL, which must include creation of gainful employment for persons with disabilities within the mainstream society and not free grants given to selected groups of Lusaka-based persons with disabilities. This should be paired with effective and efficient current social services which have been archived for the past 20 years.
The Society for ALL approach to business development is the only way to change the perception which people have on persons with disabilities, that they can only be helped and not them to help others because they are disabled. And to this effect the Government needs to take a lead by building and formulating strategies and fiscal policies that stimulate pro-poor growth, reduce poverty and achieve social inclusion for ALL.
However, to achieve a society for ALL, the Government should address and carefully look at eradication of extreme poverty and hunger among persons with disabilities by ensuring that it gives loans and not free grants to persons with disabilities based on business plans and not sympathy.
For a long time now, and not only in Zambia but the world over, there have been calls from some sections of society for the need to promote a society for ALL approach in addressing the plight of persons with disabilities. By way of addressing some of the challenges we see today we need to look at childhood history of each person with a disability.
Let me say this colleagues, that empowering persons with disabilities through business is the practical way to lessen the burden and challenges persons with disabilities face. Many of you who have used Shoprite Cairo and Standard Chartered Bank, you have seen those disabled friends who have been selling there for a long time and I talked to them one morning just to know if they faced challenges in their business and this is what they said to me.
Q: Good morning sir and how is business today?
A: Thank you sir, we are trying if the council will not disturb us, we shall work today more especially that they don’t work over weekends.
Q: You mean you are disturbed on a dairy basis?
A: Yes because they say we are not allowed to do business here and mostly it’s the owners of corridors who complain to the city council that we are blocking their businesses.
Q: How long have you been doing this business?
A: As long as we can remember this has been our life and our work. Our children and families depend on this business, so it is important that the Government legalises street vending for persons with disabilities because we can’t find work anywhere.
A: Secondly, we are not violent that we can cause problems to people passing in these corridors, so let the Patriotic Front Government think about us and help us.
Q: Have you received any support from the Government or bank to boost your business?
A: We have not received any help from the Government and our banks but we keep our cash in banks because they ask for a detailed business proposal, you need to pay a business development consultant, and at the end of the day the proposal is rejected.
Q: What is your appeal to the Government and banks?
A: Our appeal to the Government more especially is that they should introduce loans for us in form of business and farm inputs for those in agriculture because provision of free grants and food has destroyed us, making us think disability is about being helped all the time.
We know that our Government we voted for has started well and we are patiently waiting for results.
(For your contribution and feedback please contact us on P.O. Box 34490, Lusaka, Zambia or use our South African address. The author is regional disability policy analyst for SADC and inclusive development advisor for Centre for Disability Development Research, Law and Policy, Johannesburg.
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